Thursday, January 21, 2016

A Twig for a Crown

On Monday, Truman and I ventured out to the Montlake Fill, where he decided early on that walking was not to his liking that morning. So I put him in the stroller, and once we got halfway around, made him get out -- at that point he knew we were heading back towards the car, and was suddenly motivated to walk.

Here he is on the first half of our walk/stroll, admiring the artistic efforts of the ecology restoration class students, who like to have fun with the invasive plants they yank out:

A bit farther along, the male Red-winged Blackbirds were busy yakking about their territories, and I snapped a bunch of photos. I didn't realize until downloading them that in this one -- due to the angle and a slight indentation on the bird's head -- it looks as if he's wearing a twig for a crown:

Here you see the same bird (flown to a new branch) after a twig-ectomy:

Off in the distance we spotted this juvenile Bald Eagle hanging out:

After making Truman walk back to the parking lot, I decided it was a pleasant enough day to stay a little longer. So I headed over to the Yesler Swamp boardwalk. Of course, since we had completed the main Loop Trail walk and gone to the car, Truman absolutely refused to go farther.

A lot of progress has been made on the boardwalk construction, and you can now reach it from the main entry point to the swamp at the east end of the Center for Urban Horticulture parking lot.

We had a lovely Wood Duck there in Yesler Cove. We usually do, so I hope the two nice birders I met on Wednesday got to see one. I met them on the main Loop Trail, and they asked where they might possibly see Wood Ducks, as one of them had promised the other one a Wood Duck viewing and there were none in evidence on the lake. I told them about the Yesler Cove sighting on Monday. Lovely bird:

While we were at Yesler Cove that Monday, I heard angry crows -- and looked up in time to see them chasing a Red-tailed Hawk (which is the far left bird):

A most enjoyable outing.

On Tuesday, we got to entertain Winston at home all day:

I abandoned the boys for a short time in order to go sketching with Nicole at One Cup Coffee in Shoreline:

The sketch below would be better if I hadn't messed up the proportions -- I made the barista too large -- if you took him out from behind that counter, he'd be about eight feet tall! Oh, well. When he asked to see the sketch, he liked it enough to take a photo to share.

Which gets us caught up to Wednesday -- it did NOT RAIN on Wednesday, so Truman and I went on a lengthy expedition. I shall report on those adventures tomorrow.

2 comments:

Truman is so funny. The Wood Duck is certainly a stunner. I was getting worried about you, me a born worrier, anyway I didn't receive a the last post and thought you might be unwell. Must have been some sort of gliche somewhere. I just went back and read it now. Glad I was just imagining things.

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About Me

I'm an author, artist, and avid birder.
I live in Seattle where it is much too gray.
My primary goal in life is to have fun. Embrace the fun. Avoid the unfun. And pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
mizmak@gmail.com

Illustrator of: In My Nature

Author of: Immortal Quest

Author of: Seattle Sleuth

A 1920s mystery

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If you are in Seattle and are interested in buying my original art, please stop in at Four Corners Art and Frame shop at 4305 University Way NE (98105) or contact the owner, Allison Joseph, at allisonjoseph@comcast.net and she can send photos of what's available.